Nature's Arts and Crafts — W. J. Claxton, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. (c.1910s)

Opening

The stamp on the front free endpaper reads: London County Council / Balham & Tooting: / THE ENSHAM L.C.C. (S.M.) SCHOOL / FRANCISCAN ROAD, S.W.17. / Osmond Hollington / FOR / English / S.C. Russell / HEAD TEACHER / July 1937. It is a school prize stamp — awarded for English — signed off by a head teacher and dated July 1937, the end of a school year. The book is a children's natural history volume, twelve chapters of animal life organised by trade: the architects, the builders, the lamp-lighters, the miners. Someone named Osmond Hollington did well enough at English in the 1936–37 school year to take it home.

The Book

Nature's Arts and Crafts is a natural history work for children by William J. Claxton, illustrated by P. J. Billinghurst, published in London by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd., 3 and 4 Paternoster Buildings, E.C. 4. The volume is undated on the title page; on the basis of the publisher's address at Paternoster Buildings (E.C. 4 — a postal district established in 1917), the prize stamp dated July 1937, and the catalogue of uniform volumes listed at the rear (several of which can be dated to c.1910–1920), this copy is from the Wells Gardner Darton imprint at Paternoster Buildings, most likely published in the 1910s and in use as a school prize into the late 1930s. The printer's colophon reads: Made and Printed in Great Britain / Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., Ltd., London. The title page states: Nature's Arts and Crafts / By / W. J. Claxton / Author of / "Insect Folk at Home," "The Romance of Progress," Etc. / Illustrated by / P. J. Billinghurst / London / Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd. / 3 and 4, Paternoster Buildings, E.C. 4.

The frontispiece, facing the title page, carries the caption: THE LONG-TAILED TIT USUALLY MAKES ITS NEST IN A THICK BUSH — a characteristic Billinghurst pen drawing in the detailed black-and-white animal illustration style for which he was known. A second full-page plate appears facing p. 80, captioned: THE BEES' CLEVERLY CONSTRUCTED CELLS MAKE ADMIRABLE BANKING-HOUSES. The book contains seventeen illustrations in total, listed on pp. vi–vii, all in black and white.

The Contents

The book is organised into twelve chapters, each naming a human trade or craft and applying it to animal behaviour — a device that makes the natural world legible to a young reader by analogy with human occupational life:

I. The Architects (p. 1) — Spiders, Rooks, Kingfisher, Tits, and other birds
II. The Builders (p. 9) — The Trap-door Spider, the Beaver
III. The Lamp-Lighters (p. 19) — The Glow-worm, the Firefly
IV. The Miners (p. 27) — The Mole, the Water-Shrew, the Fox, the Water-Vole
V. The Weavers (p. 35) — Weaver-Birds, Baltimore Birds, the Harvest Mouse, the Dormouse, the Squirrel
VI. The Four-Footed Hunters (p. 44) — The Weasel, the Polecat, the Stoat, the Fox, the Crocodile, the Lion, the Tiger, the Leopard, the Jaguar
VII. The Feathered Hunters (p. 55) — The Hawk, the Falcon, the Kestrel, the Owl, the Condor, the Eagle
VIII. The Fishermen (p. 66) — The Otter, the Kingfisher, the Gull, the Osprey, the Pelican, the Heron, the Angler-Fish
IX. The Scavengers (p. 76) — The Carrion Beetle, the Rat, the Sandhopper, the Ant, the Stork, the Hyena, the Jackal
X. The Warriors (p. 85) — The Crab, the Lobster, the Ant
XI. The Bankers (p. 95) — The Squirrel, the Bee, the Wasp
XII. The Upholsterers (p. 103) — The Bower Bird, the Finch, the Bumble Bee

List of Illustrations

Seventeen black-and-white illustrations by P. J. Billinghurst, all by page number:

Reed-Warbler (p. 7) · A Trap-door Spider's Burrow (p. 11) · Beavers (p. 14) · Glow-Worms (p. 23) · A Mole and Its Nest (p. 32) · The Harvest Mouse and Its Nest (p. 40) · A Rabbit Chased by a Stoat (p. 48) · A Sparrow-Hawk (p. 58) · A Barn Owl (p. 61) · The Otter at Work (p. 68) · The Angler-Fish (p. 74) · A Scavenger of the East (p. 81) · The Hyena (p. 82) · Defensive Armour (p. 86) · Ants Fighting (p. 91) · The Squirrel Preparing for the Winter (p. 99) · A Bumble Bee Making Its Home (p. 108).

The Illustrator

Percy James Billinghurst (1871–1933) was a British artist and book illustrator born in Sundridge, Middlesex. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools from January 1892 to January 1897, and at the age of 18 had already been employed at Pearson's, the London periodical publishers, where he became chief artist before going freelance in 1902. [web:834][web:836] He specialised in pen drawings of animals — finely detailed, scientifically accurate black-and-white work — and illustrated a wide range of natural history and fable books for the London trade, including A Hundred Fables of Æsop and More Tales from the Woods and Fields by Gladys Davidson (also a Wells Gardner Darton title). His work appeared in The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art in 1898. [web:846] His pen style is economical and expressive: his Trap-door Spider's Burrow cross-section (p. 11 of this volume), showing the hinged lid, side chamber, and the spider waiting at the base of the shaft, is characteristic — pure information rendered with draughtsman's precision. He died in 1933. Works published before 1930 are now in the public domain. [web:842]

The Author

William J. Claxton was a prolific British writer on natural history and popular science, active from c.1910 to the 1930s. The title page identifies him as author of Insect Folk at Home and The Romance of Progress — both Wells Gardner Darton titles — and the rear advertising pages list The Romance of Progress with the description: "This fascinating book will help the reader to realize the wonderful changes in our every-day life during many centuries. The chapters from 'Pack-horse to Aeroplane,' or 'From Lake Dwelling to Garden City,' illustrate the principle of the volume, which deals with eight phases of life and their evolution." His confirmed publications include Methodical Nature Study (Blackie and Son, 1911), Paper and Printing (Blackie, 1913), Workers in Nature's Workshop (Harrap, 1913), Insect Workers (Cassell, 1912), The Mastery of the Air (Blackie, 1915 and 1920), An Industrial Geography of Britain (Harrap, 1915), Round the Year with Nature, and The Boy's Book of Angling (R. Culley, 1910). [web:839][web:843] No biographical dates or personal details have been established; he appears entirely through his publications.

The Publisher

Wells Gardner, Darton and Company was a British publishing house founded in London in 1859 by William Wells Gardner (1821–1880), originally to produce ecclesiastical texts. Gardner later brought in as partner Joseph William Darton (1844–1916) — a member of the Darton publishing family whose ancestor William Darton had founded a juvenile literature imprint in the 1780s — and the firm expanded into children's literature and magazines. [web:840] By the time Nature's Arts and Crafts was published, the firm was operating from 3 and 4 Paternoster Buildings, E.C. 4, adjacent to St Paul's Cathedral, in the heart of London's book trade district. The firm published until the 1950s. Their natural history and animal-story list at this period included works by W. P. Pycraft, F.Z.S. (The Animal Why Book, Pads, Paws, and Claws, The Natural History Museum), Lilian Gask (The Wonders of the Zoo, Bird Wonders of the Zoo), R. Bowdler Sharpe (Wonders of the Bird World), and Gladys Davidson (Tales from the Woods and Fields, More Tales from the Woods and Fields, Helpers Without Hands), all illustrated by artists including Edwin Noble, R.B.A., Harry Rountree, and Gordon Browne, R.I.

The Prize Inscription

The front free endpaper carries a London County Council school prize stamp: THE ENSHAM L.C.C. (S.M.) SCHOOL / FRANCISCAN ROAD, S.W.17 / Balham & Tooting. The stamp is completed in manuscript: Osmond Hollington / FOR / English / S.C. Russell / HEAD TEACHER / July 1937. The Ensham L.C.C. (S.M.) School on Franciscan Road, Tooting, is the building now known as Franciscan Primary School, Tooting, London SW17 8HQ. The school building — the former Ensham Street School — is a Grade II listed structure on the National Heritage List for England, described by Historic England as a former Ensham Street School including school keeper's house and front wall with gates and railings, at Franciscan Road, Tooting, London SW17 8HE. [web:841][web:845] The designation (S.M.) in the school's name stands for Senior Mixed — a standard LCC school classification for the period. Osmond Hollington is the prize-winner's name; no further identification has been established. The head teacher S.C. Russell signed the stamp in July 1937.

Bibliographic Details

Author: W. J. Claxton

Illustrator: P. J. Billinghurst (Percy James Billinghurst, 1871–1933)

Publisher: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd., 3 and 4 Paternoster Buildings, E.C. 4, London

Printer: Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., Ltd., London (Made and Printed in Great Britain)

Date: Undated; c.1910s (E.C. 4 district from 1917; prize stamp July 1937)

Prize stamp: Ensham L.C.C. (S.M.) School, Franciscan Road, S.W.17, London County Council, Balham & Tooting — Osmond Hollington, for English — S.C. Russell, Head Teacher, July 1937

Frontispiece: The Long-Tailed Tit Usually Makes Its Nest in a Thick Bush

Illustrations: 17 black-and-white drawings by P. J. Billinghurst

Format: Hardback, 108 pp + illustrations list (pp. v–vii)